Rabbi Shai Held wrote an essay recently that appeared in the New York Times. It is entitled One of the Bible’s Greatest Moral Revolutions. I would think that Jesus’ admonitions to love our neighbors and enemies and to treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves would be enough for Christians… But (speaking as a citizen of the United States) apparently not, judging by the cruel and arbitrary treatment of immigrants by many carrying the authority of our government these days.
Rabbi Held addresses biblical teaching from Hebrew scripture, focusing mostly on the Pentateuch, as one might expect. He concludes:
…many of our leaders lack the most fundamental understanding of the central biblical commandment to love and care for the immigrant.
Rabbi Held discusses what he calls the revolutionary teaching of the Torah regarding love for immigrants. The first love is love of God. The second is love of neighbor. Those two ideas were widespread in biblical times. The third love we are called to observe in Torah, though, was revolutionary in Torah times – love the immigrant residing in your community! See, for example, Exodus 22.21. His essay is highly recommended. If we claim to follow Yahweh and do not love immigrants in our community, we’re not listening to the teaching that expresses God’s concern for those who are in disadvantaged situations with little power.
If we claim to follow Jesus and do not love our immigrant neighbors…. Well, we’re not really following him, are we? There’s really no excuse for one who claims to follow Jesus to be cruel and unjust.
